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Friday, July 27, 2012

Okay, my internet savvy bloggie buddies… this post is pretty gross. Especially if nail issues creep you out… but I’m desperate and hoping that SOMEBODY out there may have an answer for me.

FAIR WARNING ON THESE PICTURES, FOLKS!

Poor Benny Boo…

I’ve been noticing over the past several times that I have cut Benny’s fingernails, that they have a weird ridge in the middle. I didn’t really think much of it and would forget about it. He never complained about it. Then the next time I would cut his fingernails, it would look worse.

Fast forward to present day, its awful~ it looks like he has slammed all 10 fingers in a door and new nails are growing, pushing the top nails off.

It doesn’t hurt him, until the nail starts to fall off and bleed. SO GROSS. SO WEIRD!

We took him to the dermatologist~ who was completely in awe. He even took pictures with his iphone to ask his other colleagues their opinions. (that never makes a Mama rest easy)

Ben’s TOEnails are perfectly fine, which is weird. I’ve been searching the internet nonstop trying to find answers. Many of the forums associate it with hand, foot and mouth disease. However, we have NEVER had this! Ben has no other symptoms~ no lesions or bumps, no fever, no malaise, no hair or other skin issues…absolutely NOTHING ELSE IS GOING ON!

All I can think of~~ is a couple of months ago when all 4 kids had strep throat? Maybe this is some weird reaction to a common virus?

I’m hoping it is not some type of deficiency. Again- his toenails are not involved and that just blows my mind.

88 comments:

I'm so sorry! I thought it sounded like HFM disease too. But him never having it rules it out and it looks quite different than what I've experienced. I'd go to another doc until someone recognizes it.

Could it be a delayed reaction to the antibiotics used to treat the strep? I read that certain antibiotics can cause lifting of the nail bed (not sure which ones though). I hope you get some answers soon. I'm sure the worst part is the not knowing.

Did he have a rash when he had Strep throat? My nails had the same growth disruption when I was a kid after I had Scarlet Fever in conjunction with a Strep infection. Sometimes the toxin that causes a skin rash can also cause problems with the nails.

my coworker has been experiencing similar symptoms with thier 2yrold boy. But he also has reddish skin and itchyness that coems and goes. It appeared for the first time in his life after he was treated with penicillin( which it turns out he is allergic to) for HFM.

After seeing many drs they are still tryin to determine what exactly it is and they have narrowed it down to the following as possibilities:

My daughter had something that looked very similar; however, it was only on one of her fingers. She had strep! My other daughter had recently had strep throat so our doctor immediately saw the connection. Once she was treated, her nail went back to normal and we haven't had any problems since.

Does he have eczema? My son has eczema and had it really bad when he was youger. This same thing happened to him. It wasn't painful for him although it looked painful to me! it still happens on one or two fingers occasionally when he is having a bad flare up. I'm not sure what the connection is but for us, it appears to be tied to eczema.

That happened to 3 or 4 of my nails a few months after my daughter was born. I was nursing so I assumed it might be some kind of vitamin deficiency but now they are fine. I never went to a dr. because it went away and never hurt me.

Have you seen this? Dr Oz talking about nails...could it be he is anemic? http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/what-your-nails-are-telling-about-your-health Also read that "loose nails" can be a condition that involves nails that become loose from the finger and may separate from the nail bed. When nails look as though they are becoming detached in this way, it may be a sign of infection, reaction to a drug, psoriasis or thyroid disease.Found this too http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/arthur-perry-md-facs/fingernails-predict-your-health Dr Oz mentions that nails can crack after a high fever, maybe that is what happened with your son? Poor guy, hope it all works itself out soon!

We just went through the same thing with my 2 year old. His toe nails did it first, then a few weeks later, his finger nails looked exactly like that and all fell off. This all happened 5 weeks AFTER he had HFM.

Are they swimming a ton? This happened to me when I was a kid & it was from swimming non-stop in our pool. Apparently, my dad had put too much chlorine (or something like it) in it & we all got crazy skin & nail issues.. mine looked exactly like ben's, but the good news is I have all 10 of them today :)

My son had a similar thing when he was younger. We took him to a specialist who said what he had was Beau's lines. Our pedi and this specialist said it was probably from when he had a high fever at some point(although we couldn't think of a time that he had a high fever) It eventually went away and we didn't have to do anything. I think his just grew out, I don't remember them cracking.

Going on the comment above by Charity Donovan I did a bit if research about psoriasis. I can't help myself, I'm a librarian. Nail psoriasis and Guttate psoriasis can develop in Children after exposure to strep throat. Both of these types of psoriasis can cause nail pitting and other nail changes like what you showed above. Hope this helps with your research a but!

My husband has very mild psoriasis, and the worst of it manifests in his nails, and they look like Ben's at their worst! It took a while for several dermatologists to figure out, everyone's first reaction with nails is that it must be fungus related.

it still could be hfm even if he doesn't have other symptoms. the older kids get the less symptoms they have. adults can even get really weak strains of it that presents only as a sniffle or mild fever. my kids have had it a few times, each time and each girl with very different problems. it is a virus and will go away...soon hopefully! poor little guy!

A couple resources to check out:http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fingernail-problems-in-children.htmlhttp://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/nail-abnormalities/overview.html

I think it seems like this is what he has based on your pictures:http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/10456.html

I'm not a medical professional by any means, but maybe these links will give you some things to discuss with the doctor. Maybe it could be psoriasis. As a mama myself, I would definitely want to determine why that was happening! Good luck and keep us posted!

The name for this "lifting og the fingernail beds" is called Onycholysis. Some medical conditions can cause onycholysis, generally by changing the nail's shape or the contour of the soft tissue bed beneath it. In these situations, the nail cannot attach smoothly to the nail bed.-Fungal infections of the nails thicken the tissue immediately underneath the nail plate and cause the edge of the nail to lift.-The skin condition psoriasis is a common cause of onycholysis.-After exposure to some medicines (notably medicines from the psoralen, tetracycline or fluoroquinolone groups) the nail can react to sun exposure by lifting away from its bed.-An overactive thyroid gland can cause onycholysis.

They look like Beaus lines, its when nails stop growing usually due to a systemic infection, you see this line as thhe nails start to regrow. The fact that its on all the mails makes me think thats what they are. I had them after getting pretty sick with pneumonia. After the line grew out my nails were fine. Did the dermatologist even mention it?

My daughter's toes did this. Someone with heels stepped on her toenails and they did the exact same thing! I would say it is because of the damage that was done when he smashed his fingers and the new nail is just coming up pushing the old nail out of the way.

I just took my 2 year old to the dr today for the same thing. One finger nail and one toe nail. She is sending me to a dermatologist. All three of my kids had a virus in early June but all of them tested negative for strep. . I was thinking my son might have had hfm and was misdiagnosed. We are heading to the dermatologist next week hopefully for some answers!! I hope he feels better!

This happened to my son a couple months ago following impitigo and an antibiotic. The doctor wasnt sure what caused it but she recommended giving him jello to strengthen the nails. We have been giving him a jello cup a couple times a week and it has gone away. Hope this helps.

Hey Suz, This has been said multiple times already but as a pedi nurse my experience thoughts would be: -related to strep, and the antibiotic to treat it -HFM possibly, could have had very mild case and not even known it -or a Vitamin deficiencyI have seen this a couple of times, each case was related to some type of strep infection, but have heard of other cases with other causes such as HFM and vitamin B deficiency. Will be praying!!!

When my nephew was younger, his nails fell off due to a vitamin deficiency. Dr said he wasn't eating enough vegetables. My sister put him on vitamin's and that helped the nail loss tremendously. As did blending veggies into sauces, meatloaf, etc. I was too young to know what his nails looked like so I can't compare Ben's to my nephews. You have some good advice above and I would take him to a nail salon and see if any of the nail tech's might know what it is. They're super savvy on nail conditions. Good luck, Suz.

The only thing I can offer is that you need to look back slightly before you noticed the ridge to any illnesses or symptoms. Nails are like rings on trees; you can trace health history back by them. SO, whatever caused this happened back when the ridge started because his NEW nail growth is healthy. Separate from that, any chance they actually had HFM back when you thought they had something else? The number of HFM cases across the country has been off the charts! Good luck figuring this out! :-)

I don't know if this is related at all or not but here's is my guess. My daughter had something similiar with ONE of her nails right after she was born. There was a big ridge in the middle. She obviously wasn't running around and playing so it never started bleeding or anything. When it got close enough to the edge I just cut it off and she was fine. The new nail grew normal. I would think it's just a deficiency of some sort. I'd push the milk and vitamins for awhile and see what the new nails do. Good luck!

My kids both had the exact same thing happen to their finger nails after having hand, foot and mouth. It was really obvious that my daughter had HFM, but I would never have noticed my son had it if I hadn't known to look for it. He had only a coupel tiny bumps and nothing else. Maybe your littlem man had HFM and just had no symptoms.

This happened to me when I was in college. I started to get the cyst acne on my face and my mom took me to the doctor and I got an antibiotic which cleared it right up. I continued to take it just so the acne wouldn't come back. Months later I noticed my fingernails were separating fromt he skin. I could lift them up! Toenails were fine. Next time I was home my mom saw my nails and flipped out, took me to the doctor, and they were at a loss. I remember my doctor left the room and was gone for a long time. She came back in with 2 other doctors to see my nails and the plopped a medical book down and turns out it was a side effect from the acne meds. The had to cut the nails really short, almost halfway down the nail bed so not to snag. I quit the meds too. Nails grew back fine and acne never came back. :)

My thought has nothing to do with an illness, antiobiotics, etc. But I've had a horrible reaction to nail glue when trying to wear acrylic nails. My nails did not split like that but the nailbed receded and my nails became very brittle and crinkly. Could Ben be allergic to any of your craft projects - the glue, dye, etc?

I'm a pediatrician, and it looks just like what we've seen after the new strain of Hand, Foot, & Mouth going around. When they had strep, were their strep tests positive? It may be that it "looked" like strep, when in fact it was the HFM virus....

Hugs to you and Benny!! Sorry he has this nail problem, the derm didn't think it was a type of fungus? It looks similar to something my dh has,... which is a nail fungus. But I'd ask the dr first before applying anti fungi med on his finger nails

Hi,I had something similar happen last year with my own nail. Never did figure out what it was. My dr tested the nail for a fungus and it came back negative. Blood tests were normal. It was probably from psoriasis, which I only had a tiny bit on the rest of my body. Then, around October I had an outbreak of Guttate Psoriasis, which was from strep throat back in May! Look it up - maybe it's all related somehow. Good luck. :)

Ringworm? I was just googling ringworm and saw a photograph of similar fingernails, so I have come straight to your website to post this reply! Perhaps just check it out, there are so many variations of ringworm....

Just recently I had BOTH HFM and strep, within 2 weeks of each other. My nails are doing this too and I'm currently having to wear bandaids over them to protect them. My son had HFM too but very very mildly compared to me. With HFM you can carry the virus and not even know it, meaning that he could have had it and just not showed any outward signs of it like the sores or the fever...so he could get just this issue with no other symptoms. It sucks, it really does. I got it in mid May and this is exactly what my fingers look like now...in mid August!! Just keep trimming them up as much as you can and file down the raised edges to try and avoid snagging and ripping. Poor little guy must be miserable...I know my fingertips hurt :(

This is so weird, my daughter had that happen to two toenails when she was around 1.5 years old. I took her to the doctor who wasn't even sure but we could tell regular nails were growing in under. Sure enough, those pushed the top gross ones off and all was fine. Never had that problem again.

Hi, did you ever find out what this was? My daughter has this exact thing, just came across your blog whilst googling. Her doctor said it was probably caused by a fever she had with strep throat. Just wanted to make sure seeing as an Aunty has it and she is unwell with a systemic autoimmune disease :(

I think you might be right on the strep front. My son had strep about 3 months ago and is now having the same issue your son had. Not as bad though, he hasn't had any bleeding. But it looks exactly the same. Its almost like a new nail is growing out from underneath. As if it's trying to get rid of the old ones. Very strange!

Hey there, This is so weird because I really thought I was the only one this was happening too!!! I would look up everything i could on the internet no help at all!!! But my nails are doing the same thing. I got them tested for nail fungus that came back negative. Then my dr thought it could be my Thyroid and he was right that is what it was. I have been taking the meds for a month now but my nail are not getting better at all. I just wish there was an answer for this.....because I'm 33 years old and I hate having to hide my nails nor how i can't paint them. Hopefully this helps please keep me posted if you find a answer!!! Thank you Kristy

This happened to me! But I had no insurance and couldn't afford to go to the Dr. Everyone who knew me was shocked that all of my finger nails just fell off! They looked just like his and it was only my finger nails like Ben. Luckily they have all grown back healthy and strong but for a while they were sensitive and not very useful.

This happened to me! But I had no insurance and couldn't afford to go to the Dr. Everyone who knew me was shocked that all of my finger nails just fell off! They looked just like his and it was only my finger nails like Ben. Luckily they have all grown back healthy and strong but for a while they were sensitive and not very useful.

My daughter recently had scarlet fever and had to take antibiotics for 10 days. This is only the 2nd time she's had antibiotics in her life at age 13. I noticed yesterday that she is having same issue of seperation of the nail at the nail bed and it appears the old nail is falling off and new nail growth under it. I've researched the association and it appears that scarlet fever commences in the nailbed.

My daughters nails did this last year when she had strep... I too thought it was from step. Until now. She had an ear infection recently and was on amoxicillin, just finished it today actually. And her nails began doing this about 2-3 days ago. No strep. Then it occurred to me, she was on amoxicillin last year when this happened! I now believe its the amoxicillin!! I've learned how to treat many things without antibiotics, so we rarely have to see a doctor. I was less educated on ear infections, so we succumbed to getting a prescription. Needless to say, over the last 2 weeks I have educated myself more about how to prevent ear infections and how to treat them early at home. No more antibiotics in my house unless its an emergency!

I had the same thing dont let him pick at them they will get worse. If he had a fever a while back his nails went into shock and a new nail started to grow over.Keep coconut oil on them and keep bandages on the worse ones.